Collections: European Art: Young Woman Overtaken by a Storm (Une Jeune Femme s'étant Avancée dans la Campagne se Trouve Surprise par l'orage)

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Young Woman Overtaken by a Storm (Une Jeune Femme s'étant Avancée dans la Campagne se Trouve Surprise par l'orage)

Taking shelter underneath a sturdy oak, an elegantly, if scantily clad young woman—perhaps separated from her party of nature-seekers—tearfully cowers as powerful winds whip at her gauzy attire. In this picture, exhibited at the Salon of 1799, Bonnemaison pays homage to the era's prevailing, classically inspired tastes: the young woman wears the high-waisted, muslin robe à l'antique and delicate cothurnes, or sandals, that became all the rage for fashionable French women in the 1790s. At the same time, the threatening storm—evidence of nature's force—hints at a nascent Romanticism and its embrace of the sublime.


• Artist: Chevalier Féréol de Bonnemaison, French, ca. 1770-1827
• Medium: Oil on canvas
• Place Made: France
• Dates: 1799
• Dimensions: 39 3/8 x 31 11/16 in. (100 x 80.5 cm)
• Collections: European Art
• Museum Location: This item is on view in Beaux-Arts Court, West, 3rd Floor
• Accession Number: 71.138.1
• Credit Line: Gift of Louis Thomas
• Image: Framed, 71.138.1_framed_SL1.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
Chevalier Féréol de Bonnemaison (French, ca. 1770-1827). Young Woman Overtaken by a Storm (Une Jeune Femme s'étant Avancée dans la Campagne se Trouve Surprise par l'orage), 1799. Oil on canvas, 39 3/8 x 31 11/16 in. (100 x 80.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Louis Thomas, 71.138.1 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 71.138.1_framed_SL1.jpg)